In a landmark civil case, You Tube star Chrissy Chambers won undisclosed damages from her ex-partner for secretly filming, uploading and distributing videos of them having sex to free porn sites which were then viewed and shared thousands of times. The videos were filmed when she was 18 and uploaded two years after they broke up.
Although it has been illegal in England since April 2015 to post private sexual images online without consent, the videos of Chambers were uploaded in 2011, meaning the criminal law did not apply. She brought the civil case in March 2016, settling out of court in December 2017.
Speaking outside the court, Chambers said the outcome was a crucial victory in the fight against revenge porn.
“We have been able to set a legal precedent that should serve as a severe warning to those who seek to extort and harm with revenge porn: you cannot do this with impunity, and you will be held accountable for your actions,” Chambers said. “For anyone who has been living in fear of revenge porn used against you, there has never been a better time to come forward.”
Her lawyer, Georgina Calvert-Lee at McAllister Olivarius, said: “Victims of revenge porn always tell us of their humiliation and shame. Their identities have been stolen and distorted and they think they are powerless to do anything about it. Their attackers – those who have violated their trust and posted their images, or copied and shared them, or profited off them – bank on this humiliation and sense of powerlessness.
“Chrissy Chambers’ case shows that victims of revenge porn need feel powerless no more … All they need do is use the law to stop the revenge porn, and the industry that feeds off it, and take back control of their image and their identity.”
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